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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2019

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

Bradley - 57, Northern Iowa - 54

THE MODERATOR: As advertised, the tournament champion Bradley Braves are with us. I'll repeat a couple of notes since we now have a full house. Bradley becomes just the second No. 5 seed ever to win the MVC Tournament, joining Indiana State in 2001.

This is the third championship for the Braves. They won two on campus or two in Peoria, 1980, 1988. This is the first time the program has been in St. Louis.

The Braves have won their ninth game in the last 11 outings, including three straight. They are now 20-14 on the season.

This marks the 27th time in school history the Braves have won 20 or more games, including second straight under current coach Brian Wardle.

Bradley now has a 3-4 record in championship games.

Our lineup is Nate Kennell. We'll go from my right shoulder. Nate Kennell, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Elijah Childs, head coach Brian Wardle, Luqman Lundy, Luuk van Bree, and Darrell Brown.

We'll have Brian Wardle start off with a statement on the game.

BRIAN WARDLE: Well, number one, it was kind of a story of our year summed up in one game, the ups and downs, staying together, persevering, players staying connected in the huddle, holding each other accountable. That was a player-led team, not a coach-led team. The players made plays and kept together.

We obviously struggled in the first half. Give Northern Iowa credit. They came out on fire. They were making some shots. They had a lot of momentum. They're a good defensive team. I've got a lot of respect for Jake and the program, always have. They're a team that's playing very hot right now that we just ran into. To overcome what we did to stay together, we found a lineup, we stayed with it. Luqman Lundy gave us a huge spark to start the run, and then everybody kind of picked it up from there.

We just stayed together, stayed the course, kind of like we've done all season, and we were able to pull it out. It was a heck of a basketball game. I want to congratulate UNI on turning their season around too. I know "The arrival" was our slogan, but it really was the comeback for us more than anything. It's how we stayed together and stayed positive and kept working and grinding and finding ways to win games.

That's what we did today. We found ways to win, made big shots, big plays when we needed to. You survive and advance. That's this time of year.

Q. This is for Elijah, Luqman, and Darrell: 15 points at halftime. What did Coach Wardle say to you guys at the half to where you guys came out in the second half?
ELIJAH CHILDS: Just to keep our composure. Just stay aggressive. Stick to the game plan. We knew we weren't hitting shots, but we knew if they kept letting us get the same shots, and we knew they would fall. Credit to Luqman Lundy and Darrell Brown. They stepped up and made big shots down the stretch.

LUQMAN LUNDY: Just remaining confident in each other in the system. We all know we're capable basketball players. We were going to make plays eventually. We had to stay the course, not get too high, not get too low, and thankfully it happened.

DARRELL BROWN: Darrell Brown. Just staying levelheaded and keeping the same approach no matter what was going on in the game. Luqman, everybody spoke up in the locker room and encouraged each other. We stayed the course. Coach told us stick to the game plan, and we did it and got the result we wanted.

Q. Coach, you kind of just touched on it with the arrival and the comeback. You started 0-5.
BRIAN WARDLE: I did? I haven't heard that before.

Q. What does it mean to get to the Big Dance after the way you started?
BRIAN WARDLE: It's been a journey. And Luuk van Bree just said to me, there's no shortcuts. We got no shortcuts. We went through it all as a group, and we earned this. That's why I think we're so emotional and happy. It's been a journey for us. As a program, but as a group this year, and that's when the process, the journey, that's when it's really satisfying. It's not one game. It's from the start to the finish. We couldn't be prouder of this group and their perseverance and their unselfishness.

Q. For Coach and Nate, being from the area, can you just describe the past four years -- whatever the math is, four or five years, just growing this program, where it was and where it is now heading to the Big Dance.
THE MODERATOR: Nate will go first, and then coach.

NATE KENNELL: This has been a really exciting journey, starting from the bottom. Guys like D-LO and Luuk and Pete and all those seniors. It just really means a lot for them and for me just to do it for our seniors. Just the journey has been honestly a lot of fun. That's what it's about, the process. Just kind of growing with each other, and the results are always often, but really it is the journey that makes it so sweet.

BRIAN WARDLE: For our seniors to see them step up today in the second half and Luqman and D-LO and Luuk made big shots in the first half for us. Couldn't be happier for them. And it has, it's been a journey. We started from the bottom. Now we're here. We've done it the right way. We've done it the right way, and that's what I'm most proud about, high-character guys that carry themselves the right way in the classroom, off the floor, in the community, and we did it for a lot of Braves fans that have been waiting to get back to the tournament, but also to win this tournament in St. Louis. I think it's been a long time.

Our Braves fans out there today really helped us in that second half. We felt them out there. They gave us that extra energy, that extra adrenaline, that boost we needed playing our third game in three days. We couldn't have done it without them. So kudos to our fans for coming out and supporting us here. It was great.

Q. For D-LO and Luuk, Coach talked about this all starting at the bottom four years ago. You guys were there. You've been there every step of the way. Just give us your thoughts on this journey to this point.
THE MODERATOR: Luc, you're first, then D-LO please.

LUUK VAN BREE: Yeah, it's crazy. It hasn't really sunken in yet, to be honest. Coach never let us have any shortcuts. Probably made it as hard on ourselves as we possibly could, but we stuck with it. It's just a crazy feeling to know where we came from, winning five games our first year, and everybody that's helped us along the way and all the support we've been getting and all the work we put in, and all the guys that came in after us and all the things they accomplished and all the boost that they all gave us is just crazy.

To cap off our season and our time here as seniors kind of like this, it's just an unbelievable feeling.

DWAYNE LAUTIER-OGUNLEYE: You can't make this up. The first year was crazy. We had ups and downs. We were naive freshmen, thinking we could make a massive impact, and we won five games. We said we were going to change the program, and it sounded ridiculous, it sounded outrageous. No one really believed it other than the guys that were here. Each year we had the pieces to the puzzle, we stayed together, we grinded, we worked, we rode the wave, and did the course. We said we wanted to turn the program 360, change it completely and take it back to the rich tradition it had. Knowing that I'm able to do it with the rest of my guys today as a senior is a dream come true.

Q. Coach, just talk about the No. 5 seed and the No. 6 seed being in the finals here in this tournament. There was just a lot of parity within the conference this year. Just talk about the conference and what that means for the lower seeds to be here on the final day.
BRIAN WARDLE: Kind of defines the year in the league. We had good teams, a lot of good teams. I don't know if we had a great team, but we had a lot of really good teams. I think we got hot at the right time. We came together at the right time, and so did Northern Iowa. They were playing really good basketball too down the stretch. I wasn't surprised to see them here at all when I saw the brackets.

The parity -- from top to bottom, you could win any night. You could lose any night. There wasn't a lot of room for error. You couldn't beat yourself in the league this year. We knew going into this game Northern Iowa is not going to beat themselves. We've got to flat out outplay them and make more plays than them. I thought we were able to do that in the second half obviously.

Q. For Dwayne and Luuk, as guys not from the U.S., when did you first realize March Madness is a big thing when you guys were growing up? Did you even pay attention to college basketball when you were kids? And what does it mean to be going dancing?
DWAYNE LAUTIER-OGUNLEYE: I started watching college basketball two years before I got here, so I didn't really understand it. It was crazy, it was cool. It was something I wanted to be a part of. We're going dancing now. I can say I'm a part of this. It's crazy.

LUUK VAN BREE: Me about the same. A couple years before I got over here, I started watching it. It wasn't really until I got here that I realized the impact of it and how big it is. People that never watched basketball all of a sudden have brackets filled out. To be on those people's brackets now is an amazing feeling.

Q. Coach, earlier this season after a game, Barry Hinson said he doesn't have the confidence to wear bright red shoes like you do. You were 3-0 this weekend wearing those shoes. Will we see them again?
BRIAN WARDLE: Yes.

Q. Is there a chance this is a Sister Jean for Bradley?
BRIAN WARDLE: We'll take it. I'm not a real superstitious guy, but my staff is, and they wanted the red shoes. We're undefeated wearing them this year. They're pretty beat up after today's game, but they'll definitely be out there and be on the floor in our next game, whoever we play.

Q. I have two questions. One is going to be about the shoes again. How long have you worn these, and where did you get them?
BRIAN WARDLE: That's my wife. She does all the good shopping for me. I have to get all my dress shoes online because of the size, 14, and I've had them for this year. Did I have them last year? I didn't wear them last year. These are new for this year. Wore them at the Cancun Challenge, won every game there. Wore them a couple home games this year and won those two. They're undefeated on the year.

Q. What essentially became a six-point play and the foul and the technical, how big of a momentum, or did it feel strange having that experience out there? How big was that?
THE MODERATOR: Dwayne, you're first, then we'll go to Coach on that.

DWAYNE LAUTIER-OGUNLEYE: It was big. It helped turn the momentum around. I wasn't really sure what happened. I know I got fouled. They said we had more free throws from a technical, which was pretty cool. It was a good momentum swing for us, but we kept grinding and just kept fighting.

BRIAN WARDLE: It was a huge swing. We kind of call that the D-LO effect. D-LO just keeps -- he wears on you over time in a game. He does it to these guys in practice. They get frustrated with him in practice. That's why we love him so much. He's one of those guys you love to play with but probably hate to coach against because he never stops going. Eventually, he just wears you out. That's kind of what happened in that play in a way.

Q. Another one for Coach Wardle: Something else I know you've heard about is Loyola's run last year, and what can you take away from what Loyola did last March as you prepare for the first round this year?
BRIAN WARDLE: I just think our guys know you win this tournament, you come out of the Valley, you have an opportunity. We know that already. We've been on a neutral floor with good teams already coming into this tournament. We're very confident. Whoever we play, wherever we play, we're going to prepare the same way we've done all year and go in there confidently. We feel on neutral floor we're as good as anybody when we're clicking and staying together.

Q. Brian and Elijah, kind of on that note, any pressure? The Valley's won ten consecutive first-round games in the NCAA Tournament.
ELIJAH CHILDS: I don't think there's no pressure. We just stick to the game plan, do what we do. We know we can come out with a win.

BRIAN WARDLE: We're just going to go -- we know that our league prepares us for these tournaments on how disciplined the teams we play. We get to play a new team, which is kind of exciting, that doesn't maybe know us as well. So we're going to prepare. We're going to put the work in. We're going to stay together. We'll make some adjustments too, some tweaks, see how we can play better after this weekend and get ready to go.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Best of luck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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